Judo CLUB Wollongong

Thanks to judo information site we can try to understand how the two most used art of today become the main defense to learn.

Most people are no doubt familiar with the words jujutsu and judo, but how many can distinguish between them? Here, we will explain the two terms and tell why judo came to take the place of jujutsu.

Many martial arts were practiced in Japan during its feudal age: the use of the lance, archery, swordsmanship and many more. Jujutsu was one such art. Also called taijutsu and yawara, it was a system of attack that involved throwing, hitting, kicking, stabbing, slashing, choking, bending and twisting limbs, pinning an opponent, and defenses against these attacks. Although jujutsu's techniques were known from the earliest times, it was not until the latter half of the sixteenth century that jujutsu was practiced and taught systematically.
During the Edo period (1603-1868,) it developed into a complex art taught by the masters of a number of schools. In my youth I studied jujutsu under many eminent masters. Their vast knowledge, the fruit of years of diligent research and rich experience, was of great value to Kano.
At that time, each man presented his art as a collection of techniques. None perceived the guiding principle behind jujutsu. When kano encountered differences in the teaching of techniques, he often found himself at a loss to know which was correct. This led kano to look for an underlying principle in jujutsu, one that applied when one hit an opponent as well as when one threw him.
After a thorough study of the subject, Kano discerned an a1l-pervasive principle: to make the most efficient use of mental and physical energy. With this principle in mind, he again reviewed all the methods of attack and defense he had learned, retaining only those that were in accordance with the principle. Those not in accord with it were rejected, and in their place were substituted techniques in which the principle was correctly applied. The resulting body of technique, which were named judo to distinguish it from its predecessor, is what is taught at the Kodokan.